We’d like to thank everyone for their contribution to the success of MENA Is Here! Whether you’ve visited MENA Is Here, participated or performed during one of the 40+ events in Groningen, or helped organize it, you’ve helped a great deal making this first edition legendary!
We have inspired visitors with fascinating lectures and films, enchanted with beautiful theatre and music and enjoyed delicious food from the region. But above all, MENA has made us aware of the common values we share, regardless of our background. ❤️
🎶 Karam Shebat El’Karamba - كرم شباط - Kom Op Dabke
🎥: Oostblok / Thomas de Vries
With over 40 events varying from music, dance, theatre all the way to art, film, literature, and food, MENA Is Here can be considered one of the most versatile events of the year. 🤩
Should there be a sequel to MENA Is Here: which artists, performances, movies, or art from the Middle Eastern and North African regions should we look into? 🤔
We’re already halfway on our 10-day program in Groningen, but MENA Is Here has still got so much to offer! With about 20-events left the upcoming days we’ll get to enjoy NITE’s Yara’s Wedding and Bab Ad-daar’s take on the extraordinary story, the hilarious stand-up comedian Jawad Es Soufi, the amazing collaboration between Kayhan Kalhor, Erdal Erzincan and Rembrandt Trio, and club night Tablatronics (ACID ARAB (Live), Ammar808 e.a.) for the best MENA-infused electronic music! 🎧
👩🏽💻 Check out www.menaishere.nl for tickets & info
Fanfara Station getting the crowd excited at Colors Of MENA ins Groningen! 🔥
MENA Is Here will officially start in a few days! ⏰ We cannot wait to kick off this cultural week celebrating the arts, culture, and history from the MENA region. 🥁
Colors Of MENA with Omar Souleyman, Bab L'Bluz, Bombino e.a., the comedyshow of Jawad Es Soufi, Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui's choreo performance Nomad, NITE’s Yara’s Wedding, dance event Tablatronics and culinary highlight Taste Of MENA: there’ll be so much to explore (over 30 events!) from the 11th until the 20th of May in Groningen. Which events will you be attending? We’d like to find out in the comments below. ❤️
📅 Check out our website www.menaishere.nl for more information on the activities, locations, and student discounts.
Meet MENA Is Here-ambassador Mo! Mo grew up in Homs, Syria. At the age of 20, he could no longer continue his studies because of the war in his home country. He decided to flee Syria and try to reach the Netherlands and apply for asylum. Mo has been living in Groningen for eight years now. He studied Media Design at Noorderpoort and currently works as a freelance (graphic) designer. 🧑🏽💻
“I really like the idea of presenting the rich culture of the MENA region to the West in this way. We are just going to boldly change the stereotypical image that many people have of the Arab world, with music, theatre, and art.” 🎶
👩🏽💻 Get to know Mo better at https://menaishere.nl/ambassadors/mo/
We’d like to introduce MENA Is Here-ambassador Fati Mohammadi! Fati fled from Iran to the Netherlands with her two children in the year 2000, due to political and personal circumstances. In Iran Fati worked as an organizer in the cultural sector, in the Netherlands she has now been working for 12 years helping refugees and asylum seekers in need.
“Art is so important. In art there is freedom, it crosses boundaries and protocols. And art connects; people from different countries, with different religions, traditions, and languages, can find each other in art, by making and playing together.” 🎻
🧑🏽💻 Get to know Fati better at https://menaishere.nl/ambassadors/fati/
Meet our MENA Is Here-ambassador Azi! “I love the idea of building bridges between different worlds, and I want to contribute my little building blocks to the bridge. We all live on the same planet, and we should all feel a part of it, wherever we choose to reside. I would like to shed a light on the diverse and colourful culture that we all live in, which can inspire and transform.
I am particularly excited about the food program within MENA is here, including many exciting elements from food history to a fantastic baking workshop, that my friends and I are organizing.” 🧈
👩💻 Get to know Azi better at https://menaishere.nl/ambassadors/azadeh/
We like to introduce you to MENA Is Here-ambassador Michael Jamal! Michael fled Syria in 2020 and applied for asylum in the Netherlands. He has since been working as a production manager, musician, and DJ. 🎧
“Being an ambassador of MENA is here gives me the opportunity to reflect from an artistic point of view on my personal background and the environment where I grew up.”
🧑🏽💻 Get to know Michael better at https://menaishere.nl/ambassadors/michael/
Make some noise for MENA Is Here-ambassador Karam Shebat! Karam grew up in Damascus, Syria. In 2014, he came to the Netherlands as an asylum seeker. He now lives in Groningen. In Syria he already obtained a master's degree in business administration and completed the conservatory, in the Netherlands he graduated from the Academy of Pop Culture in Leeuwarden.
“It’s a good thing that this is being organized in Groningen. The many newcomers here need it, they miss their own culture. Being an ambassador for this beautiful project means a lot to me. I can think along, give feedback, make contacts; I know a lot of good artists from the MENA region.”
👩💻 Get to know Karam better at www.menaishere.nl
We'd like to introduce you to one of our MENA Is Here-ambassadors: Ash! Ash was born and raised in Beirut, Lebanon and has been living in Assen for a little over a year. She applied for asylum in the Netherlands because of the freedom that exists here: everyone is accepted, regardless of religious, social, or sexual background.
"It is an honour to stand here and be able to highlight the culture, art, and artists of my background. I think this program is totally awesome, it’s diverse and rich and brings out the colourful treasures of the MENA-region and shares the tastes of our culinary background."
👩💻 Get to know Ash better at www.menaishere.nl
We’d like to introduce you to one of our ambassadors: Ahmad Abdulwahab. Seven years ago, Ahmad Abdulwahab came to the Netherlands as a refugee from Syria. He is now the driving force behind Bab Ad-daar, a vibrant cultural platform for newcomers in and around Groningen. 🙌
"In Syria, I was a banker; I had no experience with theatre. But since I came here, other values suddenly became more important to me. I wanted to share my story with as many people as possible."
👩💻 Get to know Ahmad better at www.menaishere.nl
MENA Is Here keeps getting closer! We cannot wait to kick off this cultural 10-day event celebrating the arts, culture, and history of the MENA-region. Writer Mohamedou Ould Slahi, writer in residence at NITE and co-writer of Yara’s Wedding, is one of the many special guests during MENA Is Here, and likes to invite you to a wedding that you really should not miss! 💍
Mohamedou Ould Slahi’s memoir Guantanamo Diary is an international bestselling book that also had a movie adaptation in 2021 called The Mauritanian. He wrote his memoir about the time he spent in detainment without trial or charge in Guantanamo Bay.
📅 From Thursday May the 11th until Saturday May 20th, Groningen will host all kinds of cultural events from the MENA region. Check out the website www.menaishere.nl for more information on the activities, locations, and student discounts.
MENA Is Here will officially start in less than a month! ⏰
Guy Weizman, artistic director of NNT - Noord Nederlands Toneel and Club Guy & Roni shares his view on the upcoming concerts, activities and theatre performances during MENA is here. Watch the video and find out what his top three must see shows are! 🎭🎶
📅 From Thursday May the 11th until Saturday May 20th, Groningen will host all kinds of cultural events from the MENA region.
👩💻 Check out our website for more information on the activities, locations, and student discounts: www.menaishere.nl
A lovely story about a father and his special son. Ghadi (demon) is what the villagers call the boy, because of the strange singing sounds that the child produces. Desperate, the father concocts a crazy scheme to convince his fellow townspeople that his son is not the “demon” they fear but rather an angel who holds all the answers to their problems.
📅 Sunday May 14th – 19:30
📍 Forum Groningen
